It Could Have Been Different
by Shiroi Hoshi
Summary: ItaSaku oneshot. They met in high school like ice and fire, and stayed friends even after college years. He loved her but was afraid to ruin their friendship. "It didn't have to end this way", but it was too late for regrets; she was already out of reach.


**Hi (: this is my first Naruto oneshot. It might not be the best and most original, because I've used stimulations I got from various dramas or books ive read. But the entire thing came off my head when I was looking at the rain this afternoon (:**

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><p>Haruno Sakura laughed as she felt a pair of warm hands slide over her eyes. She knew who it was before the culprit's mouth even opened. 'Come on, stop it.'<p>

'You know who I am?' the voice was low and controlled, a hint of a smile tinting the cool baritone.

'Can't be anyone else, can it, Itachi?' Sakura removed his hands and turned around, giving him a bear hug.

They were in their last year of high school, and they were the best of friends. The first time they met, it was like ice and fire.

Uchiha Itachi had transferred into Konoha High during their second year. During his first lunchtime, he couldn't find an empty seat, and he saw one head of pink hair buried in the thickest novel that he had ever seen, sitting by herself at the table by the window.

According to his new classmates, she was a loner. She had no friends and no one dared to go near her because of her anger problems.

But Itachi didn't care. He sauntered up to her and lowered himself into the seat opposite her, holding out a sandwich to her. 'I'm the new transfer. I'm called Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you. And you are…?'

Sakura looked him over once with her emerald green eyes, picked up her glass of orange juice and threw it at his face. Then she picked up her book and walked away.

Itachi had sat, stunned, drenched in orange juice, before he leaned back against the chair and ate his sandwiches alone.

The next time they met, it was in detention, three months later.

Sakura sat at the front of the class while Itachi sat right at the back. He remembered the way she had greeted him on his first day and felt a smirk playing on the side of his lips. 'Excuse me, are you Haruno Sakura?'

Sakura had sat up straighter and turned her head around to face him. She stared at him for a few seconds before recognition flickered in her green eyes and she looked away.

He wanted to hear her voice.

'I think you know me. I'm Uchiha Itachi, the one you gave orange juice to three months back.'

It was then the principal threw him a glare. 'Please keep quiet, Uchiha,' Tsunade hissed. 'Unless you want to come back again tomorrow.'

'I'm sorry.'

It was after detention when it happened.

Itachi was walking out of the gates when he saw Sakura surrounded by a group of senior boys. She looked slightly scared, but when one of the boys pushed her, she retaliated and punched him, giving him a bloody nose.

That was when all four of them decided to attack her at once. Her books fell to the floor as the boys tried to drag her behind the building.

Itachi ran up to them. 'Hey,' he shouted. 'What do you think you're doing?'

The seniors shoved Sakura to the ground and fled.

Itachi crouched to the ground and hesitantly touched Sakura's shoulder. The next thing he saw was stars, and he could feel a bruise forming on his left eye.

The pinkette had punched him.

'You know,' Itachi called out to her as she grabbed all her books and started running out of the school. 'I was trying to help you.'

Sakura didn't look back.

Itachi sat in class the next day with his black eye, glaring at Sakura's back.

When lesson ended, he stood up and started to leave, but he felt someone pulling at the back of his shirt.

He turned around and found himself face to face with those familiar emerald eyes. It was Sakura.

'Hey,' she muttered. 'I'm sorry… for yesterday.'

He had finally heard her voice. 'Yeah,' he muttered. 'It's okay.'

And their friendship grew with every passing day.

Until the day Itachi realized that he had fallen in love with her. But he never told her of his feelings. He didn't want things to become awkward between them if she rejected him.

When high school ended, Sakura wanted to become a lawyer. Itachi supported her, and enrolled into the same college. The first few months were fun.

They moved into the city and stayed in the dormitories. They spent every night together, relieving high school memories and watching movies. They laughed together, ate together, and had fun.

But as college life dragged on, the amount of time required for their classes and studies increased, and they could no longer spend as much time together.

Sakura had night classes and projects during the day, and Itachi, who had decided to be a doctor, had to go for attachment programs. The distance between them was growing.

But Itachi had never stopped loving Sakura.

When they finally graduated from college, the freedom they had felt returned, and they got their different apartments. They went back to spending nights together talking, and if it wasn't enough, they spoke on the phone all day long.

Sakura managed to get a position in a small law company, and her career as a lawyer began. Itachi was accepted into the biggest hospital in the city, and his job as a doctor started. Their working hours were not compatible, and they had to spend more time apart again.

It was during this time that Sakura got herself a boyfriend. His name was Hyuuga Neji, and Itachi felt a small part of his heart die whenever he saw them eating their meals together, or when Sakura had to hang up while they were on the phone together because Neji called.

Itachi was falling apart.

When she came over one day, crying because she had caught Neji with another girl. He had been two-timing her all along. The one he really loved wasn't Sakura, it was another girl called TenTen.

Itachi wanted to punch Neji until he bled to death, but Sakura wouldn't let him, and he couldn't do anything about it.

After all, Itachi loved Sakura too much to cause her sadness.

After Sakura cried her heart out, she had fallen asleep on his living room couch, and Itachi couldn't find the heart to wake her up.

Her face almost resembled an angel's. Her features were refined and detailed. Her pink bangs covering her eyelids, which shielded from his view the most stunning emerald green he would ever see.

He gently brushed the locks from her face and bent towards her face. Softly, he covered her lips with his, his fingers trembling as they traced a line from her temple down to her jaw.

She tasted so sweet.

And he got up and faced the wall. _What did I do?_

The next day, she smiled at him in the morning and left for work, as if nothing had happened. She didn't know what he had done.

The last straw came when Sakura told him she would be getting married.

Itachi was at the wedding, but he left before the bride and groom exchanged rings.

It wasn't fair. It should have been him. It should have been him standing at the altar, dressed in a tuxedo. It should have been him sliding his ring on her finger, should have been him kissing her lips and hearing her say 'I do'.

Itachi started heavy drinking. To take his mind off Sakura, he started dating other women. But they could never compare to her. They would never enough for him, and so his relationships were short, and there were many.

About a year later, Sakura found out that her husband had been cheating on her. It was the second time in her life and Itachi could tell how much she was hurting as she sobbed to him over the phone.

'It's okay, Sakura,' his voice was soft and careful, while she cried, and he stayed on the phone, until her sobbing died down and he knew she had fallen asleep by the phone.

Itachi was there when Sakura submitted her divorce papers.

'I'm going to be a better person,' she promised Itachi. 'I won't let jerks like him make me cry again. You can count on me.'

Itachi had smiled at her. 'Yeah. I can.'

They went on with their separate lives. Sakura had decided to throw herself into her work. She was busy all the time. She had told Itachi it was to take her mind off things. And to help her move on from her past.

Itachi had nodded and supported her.

He wanted to tell her just how much he loved her, and that she didn't have to suffer. All she had to do was to rely on him, and depend on him.

But he just couldn't. He didn't want to ruin their beautiful friendship.

But one day he received a call while in his office.

'Is this Uchiha Itachi?'

'Yes. This is.'

'Are you a close friend of Miss Haruno Sakura?'

Itachi felt his insides freeze. 'Yes. Is anything wrong?'

'Haruno Sakura was found in her apartment today. She had consumed a bottle of sleeping pills sometime around last night and the neighbor informed us when she did not answer her doorbell or her phone.'

Itachi almost dropped the receiver. 'I'm sorry,' he said in his calmest tone. 'You're lying. I don't take prank calls well.'

'This is Konoha Police Force. Haruno Sakura has something addressed to you.'

Itachi stared into the beeping receiver. He grabbed his wallet, car keys, and ran out to his car, driving like a madman to the police station.

The officer who had called him was waiting for him outside with a small red box and a letter.

Itachi tore the letter open, still unable to believe that she was gone.

_Itachi,_

_I want to tell you about my best friend. He's smart, kind, and a really good listener. I met him in my second year of high school, and in my way of greeting, I poured orange juice over his head._

_The next time I saw him was in detention, and I thought he wanted revenge for the orange juice, but after school when I got into trouble, he helped me._

_That was when I started to realize just how great of a person he is, and I wanted to get to know him better. I never regretted apologizing to him about the black eye I gave him—it helped me get a best friend who was just that great._

_During college years, we were both busy and we grew further apart. I really regretted not spending more time with him. He was there when my boyfriend cheated on me, and when my husband did the same thing, he was also there for me._

_He never left my side._

_And that was when I realized, I had fallen in love with him. Itachi, I had fallen in love with my best friend. And I didn't want to tell him, because I was scared, that if he rejected me, I would lose the only person in the world I could depend on._

_Our friendship would be ruined, and I didn't want that._

_I thought that if that was what's going to happen, I would rather keep quiet and remain as best friends._

_But thank you, Itachi, for everything. You were the best friend I've ever had, and I love you._

_Love,_

_Sakura_

Itachi stared at the red box, and slowly opened it. Inside was a simple, silver ring, and on the lid, Sakura's neat handwriting wrote, 'won't you ask me to marry you? Oh no, I think I'll die of humiliation'. Itachi could only stare.

He didn't attend the funeral, it hurt too much.

As he sat on the couch in his living room, the only question running through his mind was why hadn't he confessed and taken the risk.

Because if he had, Sakura would still be alive, she wouldn't have gotten depression. If he had confessed, if he had the courage, things would have been different.

It wouldn't have ended the way it did.

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><p><strong>AN: its over. What do you think? Please review and give me some feedback (:**


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